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Iraq advances westward crude pipeline plans via Syria and Turkey
The Basra-Haditha trunk has construction underway since May, and one segment is designed to carry 2.5 million barrels per day to Mediterranean outlets.
Iraq is assembling a westward export system intended to move southern Iraqi crude to the Mediterranean through either Syria or Turkey, OilPrice reports. The plan centers on two export pipeline routes built around a common Basra-Haditha trunk. One option would continue through Kirkuk to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, while the other route would cross Syria to Baniyas.
OilPrice says Iraq has brought Chevron, US investment firm Capital TI, and Qatar’s UCC into technical and financial studies for the pipelines. KBR is also conducting a separate study of the Basra-Haditha section, where construction began in May on a line designed to carry 2.5 million barrels per day.
The outlet adds that Washington endorsed the restoration of the Kirkuk-Baniyas line this week, which has been largely inoperative since 2003. Chevron is preparing agreements for the West Qurna 2 and Nassiriya oilfields, alongside work on export routes outside the Hormuz region.
OilPrice also notes that Iraq has begun shipping limited crude and naphtha volumes through Syrian ports and plans to continue even after Hormuz stabilizes. Separately, a drone struck a vessel near Iraq’s Basra Oil Terminal on Thursday, the second drone incident involving Basra province port infrastructure in two days, but Iraq’s Oil Ministry said crude loading continued normally and that no damage to tanker or port facilities had been reported.
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